By Dennis Hartley

Filmmakers Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak share much more than the directing credits for this autobiographical documentary-they are longtime professional colleagues…and life partners. Those various degrees of collaboration didn’t hatch all at once; their “against the odds” relationship has rendered a love story as deeply personal and politically expansive as Reds or Doctor Zhivago. 

Lebanese journalist Janay Boulos was working as a producer for the BBC (based in London) when the Syrian revolution exploded in the spring of 2011 after the brutal Assad regime reacted to widespread street protests with lethal force. At the time, Syrian activist and cameraman Abd Alkader Habak was living in Aleppo. Since reporters were forbidden from entering the city, Boulos needed a source who was already on the ground. Hence (as they say)…it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Drawn from 13 years worth of personal archives, the resulting film delivers a real-life tale of love and war that is by turns touching and harrowing, and ultimately…hopeful.